Leaders Index 12-12-13

The market had another overall weak session today, although it was much better than yesterday. The major averages were lower most of the day and late weakness caused them the close near their intraday lows. The NYA lead the way down with a loss of .42% while the COMPQ lost .14%. The Nasd averages have been holding up better in the last few days and the small and mid cap stocks were slightly up today. Volume was lower across the board so there was no new distribution today. Leading stocks did better today than the overall market as the leaders index rose .83% on higher and slightly above average volume. The index remains below a declining 17dma and quality stocks are generally weaker than the major averages. The market seems to have a bid under it as it could have had a nasty sell off today but didn’t. Portfolio managers looking to protect their gains for the year and their bonuses are probably giving it some support. So far the major averages have not suffered much real damage in the current weakness, although all have broken below their 10 and 21dma’s while the NYA is now below it’s 50dma. It is a tough market to make any meaningful progress in and probably will be until the end of the year. In January we may get a clearer picture of where things are going. Jerry